Kempner falls in playoffs to Cy-Falls

CHAD WASHINGTON

Published
6:00 pm CST, Tuesday, November 23, 2004

The Cougars were bounced from the 5A Division I playoffs with a 35-17 loss to Cy-Falls Saturday night at Tully Stadium. The Eagles used a strong passing attack, passing for 248 total yards, as well as a few big plays to beat Kempner and advance to the quarterfinals.

"They made a few good plays, my hat's off to them," Kempner head coach Mike Ferrell said. "They executed. They were able to get over the top on a couple of deep routes and ultimately made the difference in the game."

Cy-Falls used long passes for its first-half scores, including a 47-yard play from quarterback David Brekke to Andre Sexton to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter. Then at the end of the quarter, Brekke found Ricky Price, who jumped over the Cougar defender to score a 71-yard touchdown to break a 7-7 tie.

While the Eagles used the air attack, Kempner kept the ball on the ground with running back Kevin Ferguson, who gained 86 yards in the first half. However, a 32-yard pass quarterback Austin Nwokobia to Vaness Emokpae set up the Cougars' first score, which was followed by a 3-yard touchdown run by Ferguson with 41 seconds left in the first quarter. Then in the second quarter, Ferguson carried the ball six times for 36 yards to set up a 19-yard field goal by Emokpae to narrow the score to 14-10.

But Cy-Falls struck though the air quickly, as Brekke connected with Roger Holland for a 76-yard touchdown strike to give the Eagles a 21-10 lead. A missed field goal by Cy-Falls ended the first half.

Kempner quickly responded in the second half, after a Ferguson 43-yard run set the Cougars up at the Eagle 35-yard line. Runs by Ferguson and Nwokobia would result in a 2-yard plunge by Ferguson to pull Kempner within four. Ferguson, playing in his final game at Kempner, ended his night with 144 yards rushing and two scores.

"Like all of our seniors, (Kevin) stepped up and played well tonight," Ferrell said.

But Cy-Falls got a big run by running back Melvin Davis, when his 32-yard scamper at the end of the third quarter set up a touchdown pass from Brekke to Jack Freeman that increased the Eagles' lead to 28-17.

With not much time left in the game, the Cougars were forced to pass the ball to win the game, but Nwokobia could only muster a total of 87 passing yards for the game. The plan really went awry when Nwokobia threw an interception by Mark Bosignore that was returned 28 yards for a touchdown with just under four minutes left to play that put the game away.

"They got up big enough, so they took us out of what we wanted to do," Ferrell said.

Kempner ends its season with a 5-7 official record, but won seven games on the field. The Cougars had to endure a 0-3 start to the season and battle in the last few weeks of the regular season just to make its second-straight appearance in the playoffs. Along with their opening-round victory over a strong Cinco Ranch team, Ferrell has a lot to be happy about his team this year.

"I'm really proud of these kids. They could have quit a long time ago. And they found the fortitude to fight on and keep fighting, and I'm just proud of them," Ferrell said. "There's nothing more that I can say about these kids, just how hard they fought to get to this opportunity. I think they represented District 20-5A proud.